


House Key

by Well_Then_Extract



Category: Original Work
Genre: Angst, Blood and Injury, F/F, Hurt/Comfort, I have so many ocs but I'm too scared to post my writing for them bc I'm fanfic focused yknow?, I wasn't gonna post this but it's kinda long so I thought I might as well, Mild Gore, Murder, Not Actually Unrequited Love, Original Character(s), Self-Indulgent, anyway these are some of them
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-02
Updated: 2021-02-02
Packaged: 2021-03-13 01:08:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,487
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29144946
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Well_Then_Extract/pseuds/Well_Then_Extract
Summary: The house key is a metaphor, actually, for me being someone you can open up to.
Relationships: Satin/Cherry
Kudos: 1





	House Key

**Author's Note:**

> Hey!!!  
> So I have been SUPER inactive and it is entirely because these past few months have been an absolute hell pit of mental health crises and I haven't really put as much time into my fics as I should.  
> I wrote this mostly as a comfort to myself because I have kind of gotten really into my original characters as of late. I've been feeling shitty like a LOT and sometimes I write things to make myself feel better, which happens to be the case here.  
> I know it feels kind of like you're going into this universe cold with no context but that's somewhat intentional but also I'm sorry.  
> My tumblr is st0m4ch4ch3s and I'm always here if you are interested in more about my ocs!!! Feel free to send me an ask!!! Also available on my tumblr is a link to my writing server, where I'm pretty active!!! It's pretty cool and open, so if you want to join just send me an ask!!!  
> Anyway!!! I hope you like it and I'm sorry for being awful about updating everything all the time

“Here, it’s for you.” Cherry handed Satin a small box, it was neatly wrapped and had a bow tied around it.

“You already gave me a present,” Satin pointed out, puzzled, “the shoes, remember?”

“Right, but this is another gift,” Cherry explained, sliding onto the couch next to Satin.

It was the day after Christmas and the four band members had been celebrating their own Christmas party, complete with food and presents and hot drinks. Fluke and Chastity were both occupied in the kitchen, Fluke had tried to make hot chocolate but the milk got too hot and boiled, so Chastity was helping her remake it.

It was just Cherry and Satin in the living room, Christmas music was playing quietly from a stereo in the corner and the only light was coming from the hardly-lit Christmas tree. Cherry’s hair was falling around her face, the product she had used was wearing off, she was looking at Satin kindly through strands of hair that Satin wanted to push behind her ears.

“I only got you the one present,” Satin told her, breaking eye contact to look at the little gift that had been placed into her hands.

“I know but-” Cherry nudged Satin’s hand, the one holding the present, “just open it.”

Satin sighed, and carefully untied the ribbon and tore off the wrapping paper. Beneath it all was a box, and when Satin opened it there was a key resting on tissue paper inside.

“Cherry-”

“Just listen,” Cherry cut her off, she glanced at Fluke and Chastity to make sure that they weren’t listening before she continued, “I’m glad that you feel comfortable enough that you can come over when you need to after you do… whatever it is that you do,”

Satin rolled her eyes, she knew where this was going.

“Just listen!” Cherry said again, more forcefully, the hand she was using to gesture with was hovering just above Satin’s leg, she could almost feel it brush against her. “I’m glad you come over and that you trust me, but I want you to know you can trust me more.”

“More?” Satin repeated teasingly, raising her eyebrows.

“You know what I mean, you can always rely on me is what I’m saying.”

“I don’t need to.”

Cherry sighed, the hand that had been barely an inch above Satin’s thigh shifted to grip her hand loosely, Satin tensed up as Cherry’s thumb smoothed over her gloved palm. A shiver went through her.

Instantly she panicked and worried that Cherry could feel the bones of her fleshless fingers through the gloves, yet she couldn’t bring herself to pull away.

“I know you say that and you probably think that but you do need help and you need support the same as anybody else, and with all the stuff you keep from me, I just wanted this one thing to be easy for you.” She continued explaining, her voice was soft and her hand was warm and God if Satin hadn’t any self-control she’d have broken down on the couch that night.

But she did have self-control, so she pushed away any emotion that wasn’t simple appreciation and what could be construed as ‘Christmas spirit’.

Satin nodded, focused on Cherry’s hand in hers, she swallowed steadily before she spoke.

“Thank you, I know I can be… difficult and I don’t always say it but-”

“I know,” Cherry nodded, she gave Satin’s hand a final squeeze before she let go, “I know, you don’t have to say it. Just ‘thanks’ is enough.”

“Thanks,” Satin said, she hoped Cherry knew just how much she meant it.

Cherry nodded again as Fluke and Chastity came into the living room, each holding two mugs of fresh hot chocolate.

“You’re welcome,” she told Satin.

The night went on, and Satin held the key in her hand, rubbing her gloved fingers over the metal surface of it. She told herself she wasn’t still thinking about the feeling of Cherry’s hand holding hers.

* * *

_This is pathetic._ she thought to herself as she hobbled into the elevator of the apartment building.

_This is so fucking stupid._ as she limped along the hallway and made her way, slowly and painstakingly, to the only door she knew.

_God, I can’t ever take care of things myself. Fucking bullshit, why can’t I just do things like I’m told to?_ as she steadied herself and fished around in her purse for a key.

_This is beyond pathetic, this is laughable, it’s… God, I can’t even think of a word that goes beyond pathetic._ as she unlocked the door and stumbled inside, leaning against the door heavily once it was shut.

Luckily, everyone in the apartment was asleep, or at least they seemed to be, so Satin was able to maneuver around the dark apartment uninterrupted.

She made her way to the bathroom and opened the door with trained ease, she already knew where everything was. She could do this part alone, so no one else would know her shame.

_Shameful, yes that’s another word. This is shameful._

Satin started peeling off her clothes, wincing as she lifted her leg to take off her boot.

They almost never fight back, they’re all scientists, men and women of high-rises and lab coats, they were people she’d have thrown into lockers in high school. But when they do fight back, it’s for their life, and it’s vicious.

Dr. Mallard, the woman Satin had been sent after today, shattered a glass beaker, and came at Satin with the pieces. Despite Satin’s best attempts, the other woman cut Satin’s legs and the corner of her abdomen. Of course, Satin was eventually able to finish her off but the damage was done.

So she made her way to the only place she ever thought to go.

Embarrassingly enough, it seemed like she was going to patch herself up in Cherry and Fluke’s apartment bathroom.

Then it occurred to her that her first aid kit was empty and sitting in her glovebox. She had meant to refill it because after an assignment a few weeks ago when she had finished off the last of her cuts and scrapes resources. So she was bandage-less, and she was lacking the cleaning equipment she usually used as well.

Satin cursed her carelessness as she paced the small bathroom, she rooted through the drawers and closet frantically for anything that could help her.

All she found was an empty box of children’s finger-sized bandaids, and she tossed it at the wall in frustration, glaring at the box for taunting her.

Satin sat on the toilet seat and considered her options.

She could continue with her routine, she could bathe and try to relax and later on patch herself up in her car, although she was hesitant to wash the wounds without having something more substantial like hydrogen peroxide nearby. On top of this, driving home (or to a pharmacy) with gaping open wounds without supervision is dangerous, and bleeding out in her car on the side of a highway seems like such a disgusting way to die.

She could run to the pharmacy now, cutting the bleeding out time while being able to continue her bath, but if it was beyond humiliating to drag herself into Cherry’s apartment once then Satin couldn’t even imagine how idiotic and awful she’d feel doing it a _second_ time.

Or, finally, she could swallow her pride and head home, and listen as her mother shouted insults at her while she fixed Satin’s wounds.

(The third option was the least desirable, Satin would prefer to bleed out in a ditch than rely on her mother to take care of her injuries.)

(Her mother finding out she was injured, especially injured due to her own malfeasance, was worse than dying in a Circle K parking lot.)

It was her own fault that she was in this situation, Satin shouldn’t have allowed herself to get hurt. She was better than that, she’s better than this.

Satin had taken off her shoes and piled them in the corner (all things considered they were cleaner than usual) and was in the process of taking off her clothes to assess her wounds fully as she considered her options.

She had stepped out of her skirt and was rolling down her tights when the door to the bathroom suddenly opened. Satin yelped and yanked the tights back up her legs, luckily they were dark enough that they blacked out any possible glimpse of skin (or lack thereof).

“What the hell!?” She shouted, helplessly reaching for her discarded skirt and backing away from the intruder.

“I thought it was you,” Cherry said flatly.

She made steady eye contact with Satin, she was acting like it wasn’t a surprise at all to find Satin bloodied and undressing in her bathroom. At this point, maybe it wasn’t.

“Why didn’t you wake me up?” Cherry asked, she seemed hurt.

“I didn’t think I needed to, I’ve been bathing by myself for a while now.” Satin huffed, she pulled her skirt back up and zipped it.

“Yeah but…” Cherry protested weakly, looking off to the side.

“And I have a key now, remember?”

“That’s not why I gave it to you.”

Satin sighed again, she folded her arms.

“I didn’t want to wake you up, I really can do this on my own.” She rephrased herself, she was softer, more honest.

Cherry remained silent, staring at Satin sadly.

“I know you want me to open up to you more but I just don’t-”

“Is that yours?” Cherry cut her off, pointing to the growing bloodstain on Satin’s sweater.

Satin looked to where Cherry was pointing and inhaled deeply as she considered lying. There was no sense in it now, she supposed.

“Yes, that one is,” Satin admitted, and as soon as she had said that Cherry was walking over with a determined and concerned look on her face.

“God, Satin,”

“I’m fine though,” she argued, even though it was pointless, Cherry was already searching through her drawers, “you don’t have any bandaids, I checked.”

Cherry groaned and left the bathroom, Satin assumed she went to search through her bedroom.

“Why don’t you have any bandaids?” Satin asked half-sarcastically, she heard items moving around from another part of the apartment. “What if there was an emergency? What would you do then?”

“Shut up,” Cherry called from wherever she was, obviously not happy with Satin’s attitude.

“Then you’d just die,” Satin mumbled, more to herself than anything, there was an increasingly awkward feeling growing inside her. She hated having to be looked after or cared for, she despised owing that debt to someone.

Cherry returned to the bathroom, newly determined, and more frustrated than she had been when she left. Admittedly, it was a little amusing.

She was wearing a skirt now, though the combination of it with the long socks and big pajama shirt she had been wearing was a little ridiculous.

(Was she not wearing pants before? Satin honestly couldn’t remember. She knew the skirt was new but she couldn’t tell whether or not Cherry had been pantsless when she first appeared in the bathroom.)

(Why doesn’t she wear pants to bed? It’s January.)

“Here’s what we’re gonna do,” Cherry explained, she stepped around Satin to grab something from the drawer under the sink, “we’re going to go to that convenience store that’s open twenty-four hours and get you something so you don’t fucking die in my fucking bathroom,” She was pulling her hair into a rushed high ponytail, something Satin had never seen her do. If Cherry’s hair wasn’t styled into a prickly mob of black on her head it was just hanging around her shoulders, Satin wasn’t even sure her hair could hold a ponytail.

“And then,” Cherry continued, making such fierce eye contact with Satin that she took a small step back, nearly into the bathtub, “and then I’m going to bandage you up and _help you_ and there isn’t anything you can do about it.”

“What?” Satin barked. “No, no, no, you will _not_ get anywhere near me, I can do this myself.”

“Clearly, you can’t.”

“Get whatever you want, tell me whatever you want, but you _won’t_ do anything else.”

Cherry, stupidly, seemed offended by this.

“I’m trying to help,” she said as if this would change Satin’s mind.

_Oh well then, I thought you were trying to kill me._

Satin raised her chin and straightened. She stepped away from the bathtub and closer to Cherry until she stood over her.

“You will not, cannot, help me in the way that you think you can.”

Cherry didn’t budge.

“I’m going to stop your bleeding, and you’re going to have to deal with that.”

They were both silent, making intense eye contact, Satin looming over Cherry and Cherry standing as tall as she could.

“I won’t change my mind.” Satin seethed, leaning closer.

“Neither will I,” Cherry replied, stepping up on her tiptoes, which inherently made her less intimidating.

“Whatever,” Satin huffed, backing down and stepping around Cherry out of the bathroom, “we should get going,”

Cherry mumbled some mocking repetition of what Satin had said but followed her anyway.

The walk to Cherry’s car was long and quiet, filled with Satin’s desire to reach out again and her pride preventing her from doing so.

In the elevator, Satin had to lean against a wall to steady herself, something that didn’t go unnoticed, but Cherry didn’t bring it up aside from an upset and uneasy glance.

Cherry lead them out into the parking garage and to her car, and while being in Cherry’s dirty car wasn’t something Satin was ecstatic about, she was even less inclined to let Cherry into her own car, so she had to compromise.

“You can sit in the front seat if you want,” Cherry said as she unlocked the car, and Satin scoffed.

“Like I’m gonna sit in the back,”

“I just wanted to give you the option,” Cherry huffed, after she had slid into the car she mumbled, “you’re kinda fussy.”

Satin ignored it and got into her own seat, kicking aside trash and old mail.

“You need to clean your car,” she remarked, despite the intimacy of Cherry helping Satin with her injuries she still felt the need to comment on stupid things that Cherry did. Maybe it was _because_ of the intimacy.

Cherry just huffed again and turned on the radio.

Satin was surprised at what played, it was something old, slow, and smarmy, not what she had pictured in the slightest. She turned to Cherry, just barely, just to take another look at her now that she knew this information. This was a precedent-setting night for their friendship, Satin supposed.

“I don’t just listen to rock,” Cherry defended like she heard Satin’s thoughts.

“I know, I was-”

“My mom listens to this kind of music,” Cherry explained before Satin could continue, “I guess it stuck.”

Satin nodded, she looked out the window and tried to picture what kind of music her mother listens to. She couldn’t think of anything.

The rest of the drive was silent, aside from Cherry occasionally singing along to the lyrics of whatever oldies she knew.

Satin knew what Cherry’s singing sounded like, she knew, but somehow hearing it in this context left her reeling.

For all of Satin’s boasting (although she had grown out of that by now), Cherry’s voice was just fine, and if she wanted to sing one of her own songs someday Satin wouldn’t have a problem with it. Not that she’d ever admit that. It was just something to think about and consider in quiet moments like these.

The drive wasn’t very long, and soon enough they arrived at the prophesied Circle K, glowing in the pitch-black night like the north star.

They got out of the car and headed inside the building wordlessly, and then headed off in separate directions.

“Hey!” Satin called, watching Cherry head off in the opposite direction of the medical supplies. “Where are you going?”

“I wanted a rootbeer,” Cherry told her, and continued walking away.

Satin huffed and limped over to the bandaids, alone. She stood there and sulked as she looked through the brands, which ranged from completely useless to only somewhat shitty.

“I’m back,” Cherry said as she suddenly appeared behind Satin, scaring the shit out of her, “I told you it wouldn’t be long.”

“ _God_ , first of all, don’t fucking sneak up on me like that,” Satin whirled around, pointing an accusing finger at Cherry, “second, you never said that, you just said something about rootbeer."

“Yeah, and I got it,” Cherry retorted, and held up the aforementioned bottle of rootbeer.

Satin rolled her eyes and went back to scanning the shelves for her usual brands of bandages and gauze.

“Oh hey,” Cherry exclaimed as she reached forward and grabbed a box of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle brand bandaids off the shelf.

Satin narrowed her eyes at her.

“Really?”

“What? They’re fun and it’s not like I need to use them very often.”

Satin just shook her head.

“Is this the kind you need?” Cherry asked, grabbing a second box which was, miraculously, exactly the one Satin needed.

“Yes,” she grabbed the box out of her hands, inspecting it, “how did you know?”

Cherry shrugged.

“It’s the most expensive kind.”

Satin wasn’t sure what she was expecting, some deep profound thought on Satin’s character and their friendship maybe, but she should’ve known this would work back around into an insult. Even if she’d do the same thing to Cherry.

“Do you follow the same rules for the other stuff too?” Cherry joked as she held up a container of hydrogen peroxide the size of her head.

“Why don’t you go get more rootbeer,” Satin snarked, and yanked the container away from Cherry.

“Jokes on you, I was already going to do that,” Cherry grinned as she wandered out of the aisle once more.

Satin was able to pick out the appropriate gauze, hydrogen peroxide, and sanitizer without further comment from Cherry; even while they checked out neither of them said anything really.

There was some scuffle about who’d pay for it, that they settled by each giving the confused and exhausted cashier a handful of cash. They fought over who got to keep the change on the way back to the car. Satin said she’d take it, but as they drove back she snuck it into the pocket behind her chair.

The drive home was even quieter than the drive there, and Satin was feeling worse by the minute- something Cherry was definitely aware of. She was bordering on speeding towards the end of their drive.

They entered the apartment, quietly so Fluke wouldn’t wake up, and the both of them headed into the bathroom.

It was only once the door was shut that Satin realized Cherry shouldn’t be here for this part.

“Thank you for driving me,” Satin said, genuine gratitude in her voice, “now leave so I can… use all this.”

Cherry seemed shocked.

“What? You want me to leave you alone?”

“Preferably, yes.”

“I can’t believe you! I just drove you to a fucking gas station at two A.M to make sure you were okay!”

“And I said I appreciated it.” Satin defended as she lowered herself slowly to the ground. It was getting too difficult to stand. “That was already more than I should have let you do.”

“Satin,” Cherry exclaimed, exasperated, “that’s hardly anything, there’s so much more I could do for you if you just let me.”

Cherry didn’t miss a beat, she sat down right in front of Satin on the tile floor.

“I don’t _need_ you to do anything-”

“Shit, Satin,” Cherry reached an arm out, then seemed to rethink her action and pulled it back against her chest, “you’re sitting here bleeding out on my bathroom floor. You come in my house like once a month just to use my bath, you’re constantly injured and on the run from something, you obviously do need help you’re just to fucking stubborn to say anything!”

Satin folded in on herself, the anger in Cherry’s tone took her by surprise.

She wasn’t a child, she wasn’t scared or brought to tears by a simple change in tone, but she was caught a little off guard. She didn’t think Cherry cared so much.

Why should she? All they’ve ever been is awful to each other, Cherry should have let Satin crash her car and rot in a ditch somewhere.

Oh, would you look at that, Satin _was_ brought to tears. Just like a stubborn child.

Satin angrily rubbed at her eyes, looking away from Cherry and at the emotionless tile instead.

Cherry sniffled, it seemed like this was hard for her too.

They should hate each other, all they ever do is make each other miserable.

Why don’t they hate each other?

“I’ve been trying,” Cherry said, exasperated, futilely reaching her hand out again.

“I know,” Satin sighed, looking at anything that wasn’t Cherry and her desire to _know_ if only to _help_ , “I know you’ve been trying.”

“Satin, God, all I want to do is help you.”

“I know,” Satin mumbled, the words felt tight in her throat.

What she meant was: _I know you want to know me, but I’m too lost in this curse, and if I let you in you’d drown in it. I know you want to help and I’m sorry I’m too much of a coward to let you._

“I don’t know what you’re going through, but I know you’ve gone through it alone for so long, and you deserve to let someone suffer with you for once.” Cherry soothed, her hand still hung in midair, stretched out and open to Satin, like she was a lifeguard and Satin was a drowning toddler in a pool.

(That’s a stupid analogy; it’s more like Satin is a cat stuck in the metaphorical tree and Cherry is her metaphorical owner, tapping her fingers against a tin of food. She wants to come home, to be safe, but it’s such a long fall down, and it seems like an impossible task when she’s up so high.)

“Let me suffer with you,” Cherry urged, shifting even closer, she met Satin’s eyes and held her gaze, “let me help you.”

Something inside Satin broke, something she hadn’t even realized she’d been holding in was set free. Her throat tightened and her whole chest heaved with the weight of something she didn’t have the strength to acknowledge. Tears blurred her vision further, just for an instant. She was able to keep herself composed, but it was getting harder by the second.

Cherry kept reaching out and reaching out and reaching out, she worked harder to earn Satin’s trust than anyone else had, ever. She cared about Satin in a way she had never even gotten close to experiencing before, and if there was anyone on this Earth who Satin could count on, it’d be her.

God, she hadn’t ever hated Cherry. Not really.

So she did the thing she swore she never would do.

“Okay,” Satin said, quiet but firm.

“Wait, what?” Cherry sputtered, eyes widening. “You’re really going to tell me?”

“You’re right, I need to… I need to learn to trust people.” She admitted, reaching to pull off her glove. “And it’s not something you tell, it’s something you show.”

That seemed to confuse Cherry even more, but her eyes were solidly fixed on Satin’s hand pulling off her gloves.

“Turn around,” Satin ordered, and when Cherry gave her an incredulous look Satin added “please,”

Despite her brief doubts, Cherry turned around and closed her eyes.

Once Satin was sure she wouldn’t be seen (the transition was almost more humiliating than the result), she took off her gloves and her sweater, leaving herself bare, cold, vulnerable.

“Okay, you can turn around again.” She said, her voice was so scared and quiet, it almost didn’t sound like her own. She couldn’t believe she was doing this.

_I can’t believe I’m doing this._

She felt so full of nervous energy like she was a star about to die out like she was a black hole just about to suck everything in and destroy all that she had ever known.

When Cherry turned around, Satin remembered why she was doing this, this dangerous, life-altering, risky, reckless thing, in the first place.

Deep down, she was just a little kid, and she was _tired._

She was a little girl, she was alone on the playground, she was alone at the dance, she was alone in her bedroom. She was alone, and it hurt like hell.

She wanted to _for once_ let someone in. She wanted to not be alone for once in her goddamn life.

Is that such a selfish thing? Is that so much to ask?

When she saw Cherry’s face, gentle and bright and supportive, she felt the weight of twenty years of shame and loneliness finally leave her.

Cherry reached out, and Satin met her halfway so that she was gently holding Satin’s hand.

She was so delicate about it like Satin was something that was worth that level of care, that level of caution.

Satin had so much to say, she felt full. She knew she couldn’t possibly tell her everything tonight, and she didn’t have the words for it all, but she’d give her everything to Cherry if only she asked.

She stayed quiet though, this moment felt fragile, it was a thin sheet of ice that kept them above water, and Satin didn’t want anything to ruin this.

Cherry traced her finger along the bones of Satin’s palm, her mouth open and her eyes wide with wonder.

It wasn’t an expression Satin was used to.

She had expected disgust, fear, rejection, the swift severing of a friendship that took years to even start. She hadn’t prepared for this. Awe, amazement, support, innocent curiosity, love.

Chery wouldn’t stop running her own fingers along Satin’s, she was still starry-eyed and hadn’t said anything yet.

Which was nice, Satin wasn’t sure what to say either.

“How?” was all she muttered, after another few minutes of staring and tracing.

Satin waited for her to say more, patiently. Patience was really all she could offer right now.

“Was it an accident or something? Like with radiation or acid?” Cherry asked, finally taking her eyes off Satin’s hands and looking her in the eye.

“Sort of,” Satin admitted, it wasn’t an accident of hers, but to her, it was still a mistake. “It’s always been like this.”

“Does it hurt?”

“No.”

“I’m sorry.” Cherry mumbled, shaking her head.

“For what?”

“I’ve always pressed you, I made fun of you, I kept asking and wondering and asking over and over what it was that made you so secretive,” she shook her head again, “I should have just left you alone.”

“You didn’t know,” Satin told her, she reached a hand out to finally brush that stray hair behind Cherry’s ear. It felt like she could now.

Satin shows Cherry the root of all her problems, her curse, the thing that will drag her straight to hell at the end of all of this, and Cherry lets Satin touch her face.

Cherry shook her head a third time like she didn’t know what else to do.

“I’m still sorry.”

“I know.”

There was silence, it seemed like both of them were about to cry.

“Is this why you have to do what you do on nights like these?”

“No, but it’s part of it.”

Cherry sighed, she seemed less filled with wonder and more like she was upset now, guilty, sad in a quiet thoughtful way.

Satin cupped her cheek in her hand, her lifeless, inhuman, skeletal hand, and Cherry tilted her head so her weight shifted into Satin’s palm.

“Are you wondering why I didn’t tell you sooner?” Satin asked, staring openly at Cherry.

Cherry was looking at the dark eyes that covered Satin’s abdomen, they looked back at her.

“No,” she answered, “I’m wondering why you told me at all.”

Despite the context, Cherry’s extended gaze on Satin’s stomach made heat flare in her cheeks, she tried to remind herself of where she was and what she was doing.

“It’s like you said,” Satin spoke gently, probably softer than she had ever been with Cherry- or with anyone for that matter, “I need someone to trust, I need support just like anyone else.”

Cherry looked back up at Satin, her eyes watery and tender in a way that pulled at Satin’s heart.

“And you said you’d be there for me.” she finished, taking a shaky breath and holding eye contact with Cherry.

“Thank you,” Cherry whispered, she was smiling softly and she lifted her hand to hold Satin’s over her cheek.

“Thank _you_ ,” Satin replied, she tried to sound as loving, appreciative, adoring, admiring as she felt. She wasn’t sure if she was able to convey all of that, but Cherry nudged her cheek further into her hand all the same.

“Thank you for helping me, for listening to me, for giving me a key to your house,” Satin continued, she was getting a little choked up now, “really it’s more than anyone has ever done for me.”

Cherry shushed her, she shifted closer until their knees were touching. Satin could almost forget her hand was dead when Cherry laid her cheek in her palm. She could almost forget _she_ was dead when she was with Cherry.

Cherry reached her other hand up to mirror Satin’s and held her face tenderly, she stroked her thumb across Satin’s cheekbone.

So they held each other on the floor of the bathroom, Satin was exposed and open and vulnerable like she was never able to be, and it felt better than anything. It was exhausting, holding everything in, it was draining her in a way that she couldn’t even comprehend until she was able to let it all go.

Despite everything, their past, their present, everything that they had said and done to each other, Satin couldn’t think of anyone else she’d rather share this weight with.

Cherry was perfect here, as she was, dressed in some absurd outfit with her hair messy and her eyes open and sweet, she was exactly what Satin needed. Satin allowed Cherry to gently comb her fingers through her hair, to sort hairs into their right positions, to keep her hand there after she had fixed everything she could.

“You’re still bleeding,” Cherry said suddenly, she laughed lightly, it was therapeutic to hear.

“Right, that’s what we were doing,” Satin mumbled, she felt at home, for once in her entire life, she didn’t feel like she needed to keep fighting. She felt like she could breathe.

“Here,” Cherry opened the package of extra-large bandaids and the box of Neosporin, “is it okay if I-”

“Yes,” Satin rolled her eyes, good-naturedly for once, “yes Cherry, that’s what this has all been about.”

“It’s one thing to show me,” Cherry huffed, smiling, “it’s another to let me touch it,”

“Don’t call my body an ‘it’,”

“There’s eyes!”

“That’s part of the package,” Satin quipped, she leaned back on her arms so Cherry could reach the largest cut on her stomach.

Cherry laughed, Satin was able to laugh with her, and it felt better than she ever could have imagined.

Satin felt better than she ever could have imagined.

As she drove back to her house, newly patched up and renewed, she was reminded of what it felt like to be a living human.

* * *

Of course, all good things must come to an end.

The next day, when Satin met up with Fluke, Chastity, and Cherry for practice and Cherry came running over to Satin like she was someone Cherry wanted to see, Satin had to bring the both of them back down to Earth.

She was cold to Cherry, brushed her aside, she snapped at her to leave her alone. Whatever moment of weakness Satin had the previous night, she had to make it clear that it was a one-time thing. That Cherry couldn’t count on Satin to make mistakes like that in the future.

It worked, and Cherry pulled herself away from Satin with a hurt expression and a closed-off tone, she didn’t try to talk to Satin again after they were finished rehearsing either. Satin told herself this was for the best, that connections like these were useless and only worked to hinder her and prevent her from living the life she had to.

She pretended it didn’t hurt her just as much as it hurt Cherry.

She pretended the broken expression on Cherry’s face when she froze on her didn’t linger in her thoughts and haunt her.


End file.
